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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> this is bbc world news america. and reporting from washington, i'm kathy kaye. as china a point new leaders, will pay heed a warning to crack down on corruption president assad vows to live and die in syria, striking a violent note as the violence continues. and born into indian royalty, she risker le behind enemy lines during world war ii. today she is finally honored for sacrifice. >> welcome to our viewers on public television and also around the globe and. tonight, the princess is installing the menu are going to

leave china -- the process to install the men who are going to lead and china is under way. the outgoing china -- the outgoing president told them the correction is so-called -- so bad in china it could threaten leadership of the state. >> two days after america elected its president, china has begun the process of anointing its next leader. but no election here, instead, 2000 communist party delegates, including many from the army gathered for their progress. .hina's 1.3 billion people the communist party has reform in china, but not in a normal way. it is an anomaly. is an authoritarian regime

running the world's second- biggest economy. modern leaders paying homage to pass commonness, mouse at all -- mao tse tung included. >> we must crack down on corruption at all times and thoroughly investigate cases of major corruption. anyone who breaks the law, whoever they are, must be brought to justice without mercy. gregg's the successor, the current vice president, was chosen by party leaders five years ago in a process of back room deals and compromises. he will be installed as the new general secretary next week. outside, china looks increasingly modern. there is a widespread sense that growth is slipping and what is needed now is more reform. but a fear that the party may not be able to relax the market

still has on part of the economy or submit itself to more checks and balances. >> the pressure for real reforms is building in chinese society. the last 10 years were a lost decade. >> instead, the communist party has tightened its hold and become more intolerant of those who question its right to will. this way, a taxi drivers have been told to remove their handles so no one can open the windows. and they have worked to stop -- allowing people to distribute leaflets critical of the ruling party. this is now a two-speed nation, politics and the economy out of sync. but the leaders have one out of -- overriding mission, to preserve the communist grip on power.

>> for more on the changes are afoot in china, i'm joined by our guest fresh off the plane from beijing. how much attention is this out of sync political and economic process that damien describes causing in china? >> the economy is doing reasonably well compared to the rest of the world. but they are in a slowdown. people are beginning to feel it. change is coming. what is really bothering people is the corruption. this came up in the president's speech today. >> how big a concern is it? how much do you encounter corruption day today in china? >> it is pervasive in local areas. it affects the common people a great deal. what is making a difference is the recent cases of senior officials, the amount of money that has been involved.

they're fighting the activity of the relatives and the leaders. -- they are flagging the activity of the leaders and their relatives. greta i was surprised to see that you had written -- >> i was surprised to see that you had written that china spends more now on internal security, that its own military. that would suggest a hefty degree of unrest and security. >> this last year there or something like 160,000 cases of mass unrest in the provinces. this compares to about 50,006 or seven years ago -- 50,000 six or seven years ago. they are now trying to spend more on maintaining what they call stability at home than it is in the military overseas, which is what the global view looks at. they look at the military expenditures. they do not realize what is being spent domestically. >> every 10 years we look at

china with the leadership change and the rest of the world thinks we will get reform. it seems to be the perennial thing that comes up. is this the time that it might actually happen? >> you are absolutely right. every 10 years there is optimism by outside observers, that we have a new generation of leaders. new faces, hopefully new policies. i just came back from beijing. they are guessing whether we have more reforms on the state. is the financial sector going to be reformed? >> if you are a corrupt official about why would you want to reform the state, if you are making so much money? >> the great irony in china is that this a rose only because the economy was doing so well. if you are not making anything, you cannot gain anything from corruption. now there is quite a bit to be gained. the state enterprises control

all the resources and state banks. the party officials allocate much of the resources. there is a great power there. the president cannot allude directly to how corruption emerges, but the point is that it is the relationship between all of these characters. >> we will see if that changes. thank you for joining me. barack obama will make a groundbreaking visit to burma later this month. the white house said mr. obama plans to meet burma's's president end opposition leader aung san suu kyi during his visit. it is the first time a -- american president plans to visit the country. and the bishop of shahram, just as well because my is said to be named to the next archbishop of canterbury. an announcement is expected by the british government on

friday. the man who shot former congressman gabrielle giffords has been jailed for life. jared loughner shot her in head and killed six others. the jiabao came face to face for the first time today in a courtroom in arizona. -- the two came face-to-face for the first time today in the courtroom in arizona. "i will live and die in syria" was the defiant message from syrian president assad in an interview. this comes as a reaction after he was offered safe passage as a guarantee to end the civil war. the bbc's diplomatic correspondent, james robbins, has the story. >> the syrian opposition groups have been under intense pressure to unify under a common leadership, meeting in doha. the rival groups have been urged by the arab league to overcome the sharp divisions that have so

far weaken their efforts to bring down president i thought. -- president assad. >> if they are able to come to an agreement, that will bring us together. the international community would expressed its willingness to provide support and assistance. >> it could form a sort of government in waiting, waiting that is, for the fall of president assad and his regime. but the president told a state television today he will not leave syria. >> [indiscernible] >> he also warned that damascus is the last stronghold of secular instability and that any foreign intervention would have disastrous consequences. >> it is the last stronghold of

secularism and instability in the region. if they come in, it will have a domino effect. i do not think the west is going in that regard. but nobody can tell what is next. >> all this comes as the international committee of the red cross gave its starkest warning yet about the suffering of the syrian people. the red cross said it cannot cope with the worsening situation in the country. >> the continued violence in syria. you are watching bbc world news america. still to come, how did he do it? we talk to president obama chief pollster about the path to victory.

nyc mayor michael bloomberg has ordered the rationing of gasoline due to a severe shortage caused by super storm sandy, which comes after a second storm has hit the battered area. >> first came hurricane sandy. not only did she bring floodwaters, but the boardwalk, too. it residents did not think it could get worse, but it did. they are now planned -- they are now coping with plunging temperatures. >> it is freezing out here. i can only imagine the older crowd that sits in their project colmes -- in their project homes. it is just freezing. >> this street has been without power for nine days. the residents i've spoken to are not sounding confident that they will get electricity any time soon. in the meantime, they are

writing in freezing conditions. the storm affected much of the northeast region, bringing chaos to the airports, as well as the electricity supply. it knocked out power to 50,000 people. what we have found in the streets along with the frustration and large it is a generosity of spirit. the soldiers are national guard volunteers and they are proud of what they do. >> we are here from new york and we are here to help with whatever problems. and other states are here as well. as long as we can help, we feel good about it. >> this latest storm has been given a nickname, athena, after the greek god of wisdom. she is also the goddess of courage. there is no shortage of courage, despite the work that needs to be done here.

bbc news. >> now to the presidential election, which returned barack obama to the white house for a second term on tuesday night. just how and mr. obama defied history to win, even though u.s. unemployment is so high, is something that joe benson knows something about. and he was mr. obama's chief pollster in 2008 and in this recent election. he joins me now. >> how much more did you know that the american public knew going into the election on tuesday? >> when you are pulling in a presidential campaign, you ought to have a lot of confidence in your numbers. my wife and kids were joking with me that they saw me more relaxed than they've ever seen me before any election. i think we we had a hard-bought, close campaign, but we were confident that we will -- hard- fought close campaign, but we

knew we were going to get the numbers that we needed. >> there has been a lot of conversation about the number of hispanic and african-american voters, the number of women who turned out for president obama. yousuf it was something else that gave him victory. >> -- you said it was something else that gave him victory. >> i think it was something else. he has always talked about the values and and where he's going to take this country. overwhelmingly, voters want someone who will fight for the middle class and who they can trust to have their interest in mind every day. that is president obama. if you look at the demographics of who voted in this coalition, the patterns demographically have been fairly consistent going back to 1992. the makeup of the electorate has changed. it has got more diverse to reflect the changing population in the u.s. and because of the visions and values that -- the vision and values that the president

articulated, that group is growing. not just women, but and younger people, and yes, a growing number of latinos and african- americans. his message was a powerful force that shaped the election. >> but mr. romney pitched himself as a businessman who could get things fixed, get the american economy moving again. why was that not a message that resonated as much? >> that is a great question. there is a strong argument about which one of these guys really understood what working and middle-class americans were going through. when mr. romney, talked about job creators, most americans, according to a survey that we did just at my firm, not the obama campaign leading into the election, the majority of americans thought he was talking about large corporate businesses, not small businesses who are the engine of job creation. but more importantly, more people felt that mr. obama would fight for the middle-class as

opposed to governor romney. and this was because of the policies he was offering, investing in education to make college more affordable. these things reflect the value of of -- the values of american people and where they want this country to go. >> you made it sound like it was a faitaccompli -- s acompli. was there a way debbie mehserle is not getting through in a way that you wanted to? -- was there a way that the message was not getting through in a way that you wanted to? >> we knew there were numbers, like employment, but been steady for a long time and it would be a challenge. we knew two things very critically important. one was that this election was going to be a choice about

economic values and vision, and we knew we could win that argument. the other thing is that while the republicans were mounting this drumbeat of criticism toward the president, the vast majority of americans understood this was no ordinary recession. in polls leading into this weekend, 77% of americans felt this was an unprecedented crisis that we have not seen in decades. the contest was in our favor going forward. >> fascinating stuff. thank you for joining me. now that we know how he won, the next question is how the white house will actually govern the country. as the economist put it on the upcoming cover, it is time for the president too hot a republican. for more on the prospect of copper -- it is time for the president to hug a republican. but for more on the prospect of cooperation, i am joined by

senator nagin. >> do the results of the election and anything you have heard since then make you optimistic that cooperation can happen? gregg's i'm always optimistic. i'm optimistic first because we have not -- >> i'm always optimistic. i'm optimistic first because we have a system in this country that allows us to adjust and deal with the realities and challenges of our time, not five or 10 years ago. that is an important process. we may change. we deal with change. we set our course. it does not always mean we are right. second, i think the climate is totally different today going into next year politically than it was a year ago, four years ago. the environment will dictate a lot of how much latitude both sides have. first, the american people are fed up with congress and with politics.

they want our leaders to bring some consensus to solving problems. also, because barack obama will not stand for reelection again, at least he says he won't, that takes the political tension out of this to some extent. there is always political tension. but that gives republicans more latitude to bringing accommodation to finding a solution. >> everyone is talking about finding a compromise. but let's face it, there are fewer liberal republicans, fewer democrats on capitol hill. fewer people like yourself who have worked on both sides. the politics is a point is that the moment. >> it is. and that is expected after a hard-fought, tough, bitter election, as much as any as i

have seen. you'll have to let that drain out. but you do not need everybody to make a deal. you need 60 out of 100. and you need a majority in the house. you concentrate on the center- left, center-right group. everybody will have to give a little something. everybody says let's get together and solve problems. it is difficult to do. i get that. i have been there. but climate and environment to do matter. politics reflect society. society wants all of us to solve problems. >> how urgent is it beyond the fiscal cliff that america be able to do big things to stay competitive? >> it has to, economically, but no longer -- this probably started occurring 10 years ago, maybe more, separating economic policy, jobs policy, foreign

policy. it is all woven into the same fabric. you cannot talk about any one of those without talking about the rest of them. amerigas to bring a skill set to the next generation. -- america house to bring a skill sets to the next generation. we have to be a competitive generation. the amount of power is probably unprecedented in the world today. that does not mean that america is getting weaker. that should be good news to us. we have to rebuild our infrastructure and so on, but we are capable of doing that. most of the world looks to us to lead with allies in relationships, not dictate, not occupy, but to bring leadership along where we can find common interests. >> let's hope you are right. thank you so much. now to bravery and finally honored prepare.

and -- finally honored. she was born into an indian family, but found herself working behind enemy lines tour world war ii. she was eventually captured and killed by the nazis. today, she is honored. here is a remarkable story. >> in a quiet london square where a young indian girl once played, a crowd of several hundred our their heads and listen to the music composed by a member of her family. this is the face of the woman known to our fellow agents as a norah baker. her life and death remained shrouded in secrecy for decades. norah baker was the daughter of a soupy preacher with royal blood in her vain -- the daughter of a sufi preacher, a daughter with world blood in her

veins. -- royal blood in her veins. her example and lives on for generations. >> she had high ideals, as an indian tribe out. -- as an indian should have. >> soon after arriving in the u.k., she applied to serve as an operative. her perfect french identified her as a candidate. she became a skilled operator. >> i came to england when i was 22. i did not expect girls doing the same thing. i was surprised. but i had an opportunity to see that they did at least as good as we did. >> now her first mission would be her last. rendsteded tortured, she was eventually taken in chains to

deckhouse concentration camp where she and three other agents were taken to the woods and shot. >> it was the largest single volunteer army. we must not forget their contribution. >> from a window of her, and she would have felt pride and perhaps -- from what we know of her, she would have felt pride and perhaps a bit of embarrassment from today's ceremony. >> one very brave woman finally being recognized there in london. that brings today's program to a close. you can get updates on any of these stories on our website. if you would like to reach me on twitter provide at -- to reach me on twitter, i am @kathykaye

on bbc. thanks for watching. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. was made possible by the freeman -- funding of this presentation was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

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